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You are here: Home > Forum > A Place of Safety > Literary Merit > Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl
Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #76977] Thu, 04 June 2020 05:14 Go to next message
Teddy is currently offline  Teddy

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This is a story that's been around for quite some time on Nifty and migrated elsewhee as well. The author has a number of tales under his belt, written under two different pen names that I know of (listed in the title).

It can be a daunting task sorting through the dregs of Nifty in order to find a tale worth reading but this one is well worth the effort, for those of you who've not already done so. 

https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/relationships/jakes-hand/

[Updated on: Thu, 04 June 2020 05:14]




“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #76978 is a reply to message #76977] Thu, 04 June 2020 05:54 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Talo Segura is currently offline  Talo Segura

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Thanks for the recommendation. What grabbed me in the intro was, he wrote: " I wrote it also because I wanted to recognize how some people can enter one's life briefly then, after departing physically, stay in the background of one's thoughts, never actually leaving the mind, like an ember in a campfire that might suddenly turn back to life." 
I've never read or heard that emotion put into words and so eloquently described.
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #76979 is a reply to message #76977] Thu, 04 June 2020 09:05 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ivor slipper is currently offline  ivor slipper

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This story and 3 others of his are at AD, where they are probably easier to read than at Nifty.Razz
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #76989 is a reply to message #76979] Thu, 04 June 2020 22:57 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Teddy is currently offline  Teddy

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"ivor slipper wrote on Thu, 04 June 2020 02:05"

This story and 3 others of his are at AD, where they are probably easier to read than at Nifty.Razz

--
Haha! Indeed. I actually followed the recommendation of the author he posted as a footer in his story "Palouse" at AD and went to Nifty to read this story! LOL



“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #76991 is a reply to message #76978] Thu, 04 June 2020 23:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
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"Talo Segura wrote on Wed, 03 June 2020 22:54"
I've never read or heard that emotion put into words and so eloquently described.

--
This author is very accomplished in describing and evoking emotion not to mention setting the scene for the movie taking place in our mind as we read.



“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #76993 is a reply to message #76989] Fri, 05 June 2020 06:11 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Talo Segura is currently offline  Talo Segura

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"Teddy wrote on Fri, 05 June 2020 00:57"

"ivor slipper wrote on Thu, 04 June 2020 02:05"

This story and 3 others of his are at AD, where they are probably easier to read than at Nifty.Razz

--
Haha! Indeed. I actually followed the recommendation of the author he posted as a footer in his story "Palouse" at AD and went to Nifty to read this story! LOL

I guess I'm a kind of author/story geek, because the background to stories intrigues me. I could find no footer recommendation at AD,  only a prologue that wasn't a prologue and how to pronounce Palouse. Which made me look at the title: pelouse (French) means lawn and Palouse is a town in Washington State, verdant. So now I'm hooked on another story, plus I love period stories - if that is the right epithet? I saw it started in 1984, which is the recent past, I suppose you could call it the living past.

I love all these snippets about authors and their stories, it's a shame there isn't more interaction with authors, it's interesting to know how someone came to write a story. Perhaps we should have author interviews, so many authors publish and fade away, not many, I know only one or two, come here to discuss.
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #76996 is a reply to message #76993] Fri, 05 June 2020 20:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Teddy is currently offline  Teddy

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"Talo Segura wrote on Thu, 04 June 2020 23:11"

 I could find no footer recommendation at AD,  only a prologue that wasn't a prologue and how to pronounce Palouse.

--
There is a footer at the end of several of the chapters in the "Palouse" tale there on AD where the author directs his readers to go to Nifty or another site, Archerland, possibly, if they want to read about Jake and Robbie.



“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #76997 is a reply to message #76993] Fri, 05 June 2020 20:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Teddy is currently offline  Teddy

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"Talo Segura wrote on Thu, 04 June 2020 23:11"

Which made me look at the title: pelouse (French) means lawn and Palouse is a town in Washington State, verdant. So now I'm hooked on another story, plus I love period stories - if that is the right epithet? I saw it started in 1984, which is the recent past, I suppose you could call it the living past.

--
Like you, I love this particular aspect of story telling, especially the ones that as you call them, are "period stories".

This "Palouse" tale is even more meaningful to me due to my familiarity with the country in which it takes place. I have never lived there but have visited and vacationed there many times over the years. I'm familiar with small town Eastern Washington, especially the Palouse area of the state. I'm familiar with the town of Walla Walla and "Merchants Cafe", a real place, now under new management and new name, on Walla Walla's "old town" main street. I'm familiar with College Place and Walla Walla College because one of my relatives lived for some years literally across Whitman Avenue from the campus and the dormitory where the protagonist lived during his time attending that institution. I'm familiar with Whitman College as well, having attended several musical events there and a couple of dances as well. Also, I'm familiar with the re-named in the story, but no less real, wilderness school where the protagonist was sent by his parents for his senior year of high school.  Some misguided relatives of mine sent their son there for the entirety of his high school years.

I guess you could say that this particular story is almost like it was taken, in some ways, from my own life, as if it happened to my neighbors or people I knew, and happened in places with which I am ver familiar. Because of this, the story has more than passing meaning to me, I guess you could say. It touches a deeper place than most do.





“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #76999 is a reply to message #76997] Sat, 06 June 2020 02:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Teddy is currently offline  Teddy

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The Palouse Country in Eastern Washington, USA. Typical of what the Kingman Farm would look like in the story titled "Palouse."

https://alanmajchrowicz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/palouse_washington_51649.jpg



“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77007 is a reply to message #76999] Sun, 07 June 2020 02:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bensiamin is currently offline  Bensiamin

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I'm thrilled everyone is so taken with the stories Teddy suggested! Jake's Hand and Jake's Side were my reading assignment for the weekend, and not only was the story great and very well written, the characters totally believable and their situations engaging and captivating, but rec aka rvl has an amazing ability in his use of words to create imagery, and his turn of phrase to convey circumstance and emotion. Four that really resonated with me were:

Jake's Hand

The sweat raised a sheen on the planes and curves of our bodies, accentuating the flexing of our muscles in the bright light of the day.
 
The sound of the rain was a massage for my soul. It was music for my psyche,
 
Jake's Side
 
The laugh had always been warm and came from deep within her. It did this time, as well. It was a laugh that drew from her amazing ability to overcome the tragedies, sorrows and hidden places of her life and see something different. It was, as I remembered it from my youth, a healing laugh that made me ready to forget the past and turn to the next day. It was a laugh that accepted things as they were and recognized in them their inherent amusement rather than leaving them a target of anger or sadness. It was my mother at her most admirable.
 
Palouse
 
From the air the fields form square patterns, but from the ground the fields slowly climb and descend, leaving the undulations of the property lines as the seams stitching the landscape together.

***

I can see the end of Palouse not far ahead of me, and that leaves but one short story to go! 

Ahh, joyful sadness!




Bensiamin
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77038 is a reply to message #77007] Tue, 09 June 2020 15:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bensiamin is currently offline  Bensiamin

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Now that I've completed Palouse, I'm stunned. Not because it's a great story with good character development and an engaging and believable story line, but because knowingly or not the author created (at least to me) and entirely credible characterization of what pediatric PTSD looks like in Micah.

Many (most?) kids moving through the foster home system exprience tramua when uprooted and moved. On top of the original loss that gets them into the system, there's a series of associated losses and trama with each move. An interesting list of symptoms:
  • Have problems sleeping
  • Feel depressed or grouchy
  • Feel nervous, jittery, or alert and watchful (on guard)
  • Lose interest in things they used to enjoy. They may seem detached or numb and are not responsive.
  • Have trouble feeling affectionate
  • Be more aggressive than before, even violent
  • Stay away from certain places or situations that bring back memories
  • Have flashbacks. These can be images, sounds, smells, or feelings. The child may believe the event is happening again.
  • Lose touch with reality
  • Reenact an event for seconds or hours or, in rare cases, days
  • Have problems in school
  • Have trouble focusing

There's also a higher than normal incidence of pediatric PTSD in LGBTQ youth because on top of the usual sources of trauma, (and even for those outside the foster care system) there's the rejection, shunning and bullying that goes along with their sexual identity in societies such as ours.

Any one have specific experience of knowledge about it?




Bensiamin
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77043 is a reply to message #77038] Tue, 09 June 2020 23:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Teddy is currently offline  Teddy

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Excellent points, Ben. Another thing that plays into Micha's PTSD is the Seventh-day Adventis religion of the Kingman family. Though not Adventist myself I have relatives who are. The religion is a brutal and shaming one, much in the same way that Fundamental Independent Baptists or Southern Baptists here in the US when it comes to their stance on homosexuality.

During the late '70's and early 80's the denomination financed the organization, Homosexuals Anonymous, to the tune of nearly $50,000 dollars/year. HA was started by an Adventis pastor, Colin Cook, who had been caught having sex with men and defrocked by the church. HA was also the original of the modern reparitave therapy programs here in the US for curing young gay men of their homosexuality. 

So this was a pervading narrative always percolating at low levels within the Adventism of the time of Micha's youth growing up in the Kingman family.

Here's the Wiki article on HA and Cook.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuals_Anonymous

As an aside, it should be noted that Colin Cook's little hideaway in Maryland where he headed up the reparitive therapy work was also his hunting ground for young men to seduce. When his "sin" was discovered by the church they shut off the financial pipline and the cure center folded. What they did not do was to expose the man or pass on the info they had of his activities with underage boys to the authorities. As a result Cook went on to establish at least two more cure centers where he repeated the cycle of abuse on other vulnerable individuals. Succeeding groups such as the now defunct Exodus International evolved out of the ashes of Adventism's/Cook's Homosexuals Anonymous.



“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77044 is a reply to message #77043] Tue, 09 June 2020 23:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Teddy is currently offline  Teddy

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Back to the Jake and Robbie tales, Jake's Hand/Jake's Side, has anyone read any stories that delve into the years when Jake was a popular, Oscar winning actor in Hollywood? I've not seen any and was rather hoping someone here knew if there was a story covering that period of time, or if that part of Jake's life is only mentioned as an aside in Palouse?



“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77065 is a reply to message #77044] Sat, 13 June 2020 23:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
luvtwinks is currently offline  luvtwinks

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Thanks for lead on Jake's Hand. A very good read. I'm hesitantly proceeding to the companion story, Jake's Side. Is it as dark as I'm anticipating or am I jumping to conclusions?
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77066 is a reply to message #77065] Sun, 14 June 2020 00:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Bensiamin is currently offline  Bensiamin

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Like life, it's light and dark! That said, it's a very worthwhile read. And, as a bonus you get to learn a lot about the topography and geography of eastern Washington!



Bensiamin
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77077 is a reply to message #77066] Mon, 15 June 2020 21:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
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"Bensiamin wrote on Sun, 14 June 2020 00:50"
Like life, it's light and dark! That said, it's a very worthwhile read. And, as a bonus you get to learn a lot about the topography and geography of eastern Washington!

--
Indeed. My initial concern was that Jake would go into more detail about his experience in Vietnam. But having read a few chapters I now realize he doesn't elaborate on anything already detailed in "Jake's Hand".

Why would the Vietnam thing bother me? Good question! I was far too young to serve at the time. But I do remember watching the evening news as a small child and seeing reports from the front lines. As a young teen in the late 1970's I saw "The Deer Hunter" and later as a young adult in 1987 I saw the movie "Platoon". Both of which I found deeply disturbing. 
https://youtu.be/fXoFhOvvOjI
https://youtu.be/KztP7SKe0uk

[Updated on: Mon, 15 June 2020 21:48]

Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77124 is a reply to message #76977] Sun, 28 June 2020 23:41 Go to previous messageGo to next message
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Interesting take. I've never read the same story as told by two different characters. Very cool. ❤️
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77632 is a reply to message #76977] Mon, 01 March 2021 07:51 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Talo Segura is currently offline  Talo Segura

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It took me a while to get around to finishing this story, it did not live up to initial expectations.

This is one of those stories for which the plot is being gay, discovering you are gay, overcoming difficulties and forming a relationship. It is also a story about a missed opportunity, a choice which seperates our protagonists on their path through life.

It is well written, populated with wonderful descriptive narrative and astute observations around relationships, best friends, family. The story is a unique study of love between two men, a love that is handicapped by their individual histories, but which ultimately is a triumph for everyone.

My main criticism is that the story is peppered with unnecessary sex scenes, described in graphic detail, which add nothing to the theme, rather they transform the novel into something less than the story deserves. It is at times, led by this divergence, unrealistic. Alex, Robbie's fourteen year old son, we are told places his tent some distance apart so he can jerk off without being overheard.

This is my biggest regret about the story, even if there is no graphic sex for some seven or eight chapters into the novel, it then falls into that usual formula, describing their love making which has no real place being detailed so graphically and doing so rather destroys what could have been a great story. 

The time spent on those scenes may have been better spent giving detail on Jake's experience in Vietnam. After all, this is the pivotal point of the story and is told only through Jake's recollection and subsequent explanation. It thus becomes a vehicle which is the obstacle they must overcome, but I don't believe it is given the place it deserves. Plunging the reader into that reality would have made for a better understanding and certainly have added more drama.

As it stands there are some long drawn out plot points, where the reader knows what is going on, even as our hero Robbie continuously appears clueless. This does tend to become a little frustrating. It is a well written story, with a great theme, which doesn't live up to its potential. I found myself skipping through the sex scenes and most of the final chapters. 

Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77642 is a reply to message #77632] Thu, 04 March 2021 00:32 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Teddy is currently offline  Teddy

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"Talo Segura wrote on Sun, 28 February 2021 23:51"
It took me a while to get around to finishing this story, it did not live up to initial expectations.[/font-size]

This is one of those stories for which the plot is being gay, discovering you are gay, overcoming difficulties and forming a relationship. It is also a story about a missed opportunity, a choice which seperates our protagonists on their path through life.

It is well written, populated with wonderful descriptive narrative and astute observations around relationships, best friends, family. The story is a unique study of love between two men, a love that is handicapped by their individual histories, but which ultimately is a triumph for everyone.

My main criticism is that the story is peppered with unnecessary sex scenes, described in graphic detail, which add nothing to the theme, rather they transform the novel into something less than the story deserves. It is at times, led by this divergence, unrealistic. Alex, Robbie's fourteen year old son, we are told places his tent some distance apart so he can jerk off without being overheard.

This is my biggest regret about the story, even if there is no graphic sex for some seven or eight chapters into the novel, it then falls into that usual formula, describing their love making which has no real place being detailed so graphically and doing so rather destroys what could have been a great story. 

The time spent on those scenes may have been better spent giving detail on Jake's experience in Vietnam. After all, this is the pivotal point of the story and is told only through Jake's recollection and subsequent explanation. It thus becomes a vehicle which is the obstacle they must overcome, but I don't believe it is given the place it deserves. Plunging the reader into that reality would have made for a better understanding and certainly have added more drama.

As it stands there are some long drawn out plot points, where the reader knows what is going on, even as our hero Robbie continuously appears clueless. This does tend to become a little frustrating. It is a well written story, with a great theme, which doesn't live up to its potential. I found myself skipping through the sex scenes and most of the final chapters. 



--

I'm just wondering why you bothered. For someone who spends that many paragrapghs describing why they didn't like the story, why continue to read it? 

I will agree with you that I, too, tend to skip over sex scenes unless I'm particularly horny at the moment, and generally won't write them. I happen to believe that it depends on where the author is in their own experience. I've found that a beginning author will tend to include lots of descriptive sex scenes that the eliminate from their work as they mature as an author.



“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77644 is a reply to message #77642] Thu, 04 March 2021 06:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Talo Segura is currently offline  Talo Segura

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Quote:
I'm just wondering why you bothered. For someone who spends that many paragrapghs describing why they didn't like the story, why continue to read it? 


     Two reasons: one, I liked the beginning, a lot, I thought when they got together and had sex, it was fine, once. I thought the novel might continue as it started, a good story, if only....   Two, I wanted to read it all to see if I was right about it falling into the formula graphic sex in ever chapter, and I wanted to give my final comments, because if you read what I said earlier you can see I loved it, but finally by the end, I didn't like it. So anyone picking up the story to read can see all my comments and decide for themselves. I don't want to delete earlier comments, but I want to give my balanced review at the end of the book. 

You also said, that writers get better, and get beyond writing in all these gragraphic sex scenes, but there are an aweful lot of stories with the graphic sex, if not in every chapter, certainly, peppered throughout. There are less of the stories that are stories with a gay theme. Stories which might have one or two sex scenes, although there seems to be a division between the erotic and the gay themed, the erotic being those with the graphic sex which means describing in detail how they make love, fucking and sucking and .... well it's just porn. However you wrap it up, giving pornography a good story usually still leaves it as pornography, dedicated to a select audience of gay, bi, or curious. I want to differentiate, give credit to the gay themed stories which anyone can read and which could have their place on any online site. I'd like to encourage the gay themed writing without the porn attached. Of course, there is a question as to where you draw the line, but it does seem obvious if you write, "his tongue licked the pre-cum from the swollen gland as he played with his balls," it's porn and not a gay themed story for everyone to read. I'm detracting from the topic which is Jake's Hand, but only to explain why I read it to the end and commented, negatively, if you like, but I think balanced.

We can have good pornographic stories and good gay themed stories, but they are quite different, are they not?
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77648 is a reply to message #77644] Thu, 11 March 2021 22:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Teddy is currently offline  Teddy

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I can agree to some extent with you on promoting a higher standard of authorship. I don't mind an occasional scene or but detest literature for the purposes of porn. You and I a lot alike in that respect. On the other hand, why limit it to gay themed literature? Fiction as a whole these days, even some best selling authors, have a lot of porn contained within their pages. As a teenager I thrived on the books that had the stuff.

I do stand by my premise that best authors of the genre we are dealing with here on IOMFATS, AD, Dabeagle, etc., do tend to start out with lots of sex scenes and if they continue writing gradually eliminate the lion's share of it. I can name quite a few names but perhaps one will suffice. I've been on this site off and on for some 20 years or more now. Our own, beloved Timmy's fits the model well. I began reading the Chris and Nigel saga when I first began to face my own sexuality. I loved the story. It was my first encounter with this genre. I loved for the sex scenes in the beginning, but outgrew the need for them with each new chapter along with Timmy as he came began to author his subesequent works. I've noticed the same growth with many of our authors who've been around for a period of years.

Do all of them follow that same progression? Absolutely not. Some will always have that sex scened with every chapter or two. And maybe that's okay. Some folk seem to need it. I did for a short period of time. Certainly NIFTY is the place to go if you want lots of word porn. Here and AD, Dabeagle, and other similar sites, not so much though they do have it, just not nearly so prolifically as does NIFTY.  

Edit: I intended to note that much of the time I simply move right on past the sex scene if the story is othewise a good one. If not, I tend to bow out if it gets to the point of being bothersome. Like you, I prefer a well written story that may indicate the protagonists had sex without giving me a "blow by blow" description.

[Updated on: Thu, 11 March 2021 22:53]




“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Re: Jake's Hand / Jake's Side by R.E.-C. aka vwl  [message #77649 is a reply to message #77648] Fri, 12 March 2021 10:34 Go to previous message
timmy

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I agree with the assessment. I am a good example. I started by writing my needs, in fiction. As those needs became less pressured I found they moved into the background. Writing is cathartic



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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